The turquoise, aquarium-like structure that has graced Sliema Ferries for the past 20-odd years is fast approaching its demise, judging by a judicial protest which makes clear that the government has no intention of extending the lease to the notorious Magic Kiosk beyond this December.

The protest was filed yesterday on behalf of the Lands Department, which had leased the area for the development of the kiosk between 1974 and 1979. In fact, the land occupied by the kiosk was not leased all in one go but in two separate contracts.

The protest points out that one of the contracts expired in 2004 but the tenant, Joseph Pace, did not evacuate the area. This time, the government is giving advance notice before the second contract expires - on December 19, 2008 - that the lease agreement will not be extended. The decision is an initiative of Resources Minister George Pullicino, who has been working at it since 2005, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Lands Jason Azzopardi.

The idea is to restore the square to its former glory and clear it of the kiosk. Plans are well under way and are likely to be combined with the paving of Tower Road.

The Magic Kiosk was born in controversy as a result of Mr Pace's association with the late Labour Minister Lorry Sant and was even targeted by the boycott which the Nationalist Party called in the early 1980s against establishments that advertised on the national broadcasting station as part of its civil disobedience campaign.

Before the present kiosk, St Anne's Square was an open space with a small family-run kiosk.